The End
by Zim'sMostLoyalServant
Summary: Oneshot. As the Irken invasion of Earth begins, the final battle of a more personal war is about to be waged. Rated for character death.


**A/N: I know you all want me to put up the prologue for "Evolution of Evil", but I have a bit of writer's block for it. So, in order to get my creative juices flowing, I've decided to do a few oneshots that I've had in mind for a while. Mostly plot bunnies that I've had that I can't seem to stretch out into longer stories.**

**This one popped into my head more recently than the others. It is inspired by JoeMerl's beautifully dark fic "Nobody Asked", which I recommend you all read if you haven't already. After I read it, I just knew I had to write something dark myself, and this came to mind.**

**Disclaimer: Invader Zim and all related characters belong to Jhonen Vasquez.**

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** The End**

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After three years, Earth's end almost seemed anti-climatic. Most of humanity had simply stared in shock as the warships of the Irken Armada appeared in the skies over their cities; that shock had quickly turned to panic as the ships opened fire, raining destruction down on the planet, and drop ships landed, releasing armed Irken soldiers onto the streets.

The world's military forces tried in vain to fight back, but they were outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed. The Swollen Eyeball Network had slightly better luck, having prepared for something like this for decades. Unfortunately, none of the weapons at their disposal were designed to fight Irkens – Agent Darkbooty and the other leaders of the Network had thrown out every note and message Dib had ever sent them on the subject, dismissing them as ramblings. The cruel irony of this was the last thing that went through Darkbooty's head before a PAK spider leg pierced his heart.

Similar thoughts went through the minds of Dib's classmates as, one-by-one, they and their families were either killed or taken prisoner by the alien soldiers who broke down the doors to their homes.

Zim watched all this and more in the observation chamber of his base. Several of the screens were tuned into the few remaining human news channels that had yet to be destroyed, but most were streaming footage from the Armada ships and war mechs. A grin that would have made the Cheshire Cat envious appeared on the Invader's face as he watched those screens – it was so satisfying watching the world he'd come to hate so much finally burn.

He remembered how this had started – it was hard not to, when it had only been yesterday that the invasion had begun. Just a few hours previous, Zim had sent the Tallest a sample of the human food substance known as "chocolate". The next thing he knew, the _Massive_ and the rest of the Armada were practically slamming into each other in their haste to get into Earth's orbit. After that, it had simply been a matter of sitting back and enjoying the show.

It was sad really; for all their centuries of fighting each other, the humans were pathetic when it came to fighting another sentient species. The only humans Zim had ever really considered threats to his plans were the Dib-Monkey and his sister.

Gaz had already been taken care of, as per Zim's orders. It had taken half of a platoon's worth of soldiers to do so, but she had been captured and locked away in solitary confinement. A few of the guards watching her were already taking bets to see how much torture it would take to make her submit, given her dominating personality.

Dib, on the other hand, was still roaming free – but this was also on Zim's orders. He had specifically told every Irken that had been placed under his command that if they saw Dib to rough him up a little, but to ultimately let him go. No one but Zim would have the pleasure of killing Dib, and that would only be once he'd seen his spirit break. And he already had a plan for doing so, once Dib came to him, as Zim knew he would…

"Intruder alert," the computer said, pulling Zim from his thoughts, "The surface level has been breached."

"Speak of the devil," Zim muttered. Somehow, using a human expression for this situation seemed fitting.

"The human has entered the main elevator," the computer continued, "Security measures are in place."

"Good," Zim said with a nod, "Deactivate them."

"Sir?"

"I said, deactivate the security systems. Let Dib come to me."

"Master, that does not seem like a wise course of action-"

Zim raised a hand to cut off the computer's protests. "Computer, this is personal. You wouldn't understand."

The computer didn't reply, but merely went about its task. Meanwhile, Zim continued to watch the monitors displaying his victory. A few minutes later, he heard the doors to the elevator open, and calmly turned around with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Hello, Dib," he said almost nonchalantly.

Zim took a moment to examine his rival's current state. His clothes were dirty and torn, his trench coat in particular almost in shreds. His hair was a mess, the scythe shape having long since come undone. His glasses were cracked, and he was bleeding from multiple shallow cuts on his face and chest. But what really caught Zim's attention was the weapon in his hand.

"A gun?" he asked, "That's a little low-tech for you, isn't it?"

"Shut up," Dib snapped. He pulled back the firing hammer on the revolver he was holding and aimed it directly at Zim's head. "I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of dying by one of the weapons your people built."

Zim merely laughed at this threat. "You think you can kill me with that toy?" he asked between chuckles, "That's pathetic. Besides, killing me won't stop the invasion, and it definitely won't change the fact that you failed in your little mission to stop me. How disappointing."

Dib snarled and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, by the time the bullet left the muzzle of the gun, Zim had already leapt into the air. Before Dib could even fully register this, Zim had landed behind him and slammed a fist into the back of his head.

The young human went flying, the gun falling out of his grip. He skidded across the metal walkway that extended from the chamber entrance to the center of the room, just barely managing to grab the edge as he fell off. As he struggled to keep himself from falling off, Zim walked over while humming the "Doom Song". With a slight laugh, the Irken kicked the revolver off the walkway, watching it fall to the bottom of the chamber with a clatter. Zim then crouched down to look Dib in the eye.

"Let me ask you something, Dib-Human," he said, "Why have you spent so much time trying to stop me? And why do you resist me even now?"

Dib glared at his nemesis. "Are you serious?" he asked, "You want to enslave the human race, and you want to destroy our civilization! I've learned plenty about you Irkens; I know you take beautiful planets just like Earth and turn them into something completely ridiculous like giant parking lots or food courts. I'm not going to let you get away with it this time."

Zim let out another laugh, and then grabbed Dib by the collar. Without any effort, he then lifted Dib up and tossed him back onto the walkway. The human grunted in pain as he landed on his back, aggravating the many wounds he'd received over the course of the past 24 hours. As his vision swam, he heard Zim speak.

"Let me show you something about your 'beautiful' planet, dirt-worm."

Dib quickly scrambled to his feet, and found Zim standing in front of the control panel at the end of the walkway. After a moment, the Irken turned around to reveal that he was holding a remote control device in one hand.

"What's that?" Dib asked, bracing for an attack, "Another doomsday weapon?"

Zim smirked. "In a manner of speaking."

Zim pressed the button on the remote, and all the screens in the chamber went out simultaneously. Seconds later, they turned back on, but now they were showing footage that was most definitely _not_ from the invasion. Dib blinked as he recognized what he was seeing: news footage – old and more recent – of wars, terrorist attacks, famines and more.

"Behold, Dib, what you are fighting to protect," Zim said smugly, "A species of self-hating beasts, practically _begging_ to be exterminated."

Dib immediately turned his attention away from the screens to glare at Zim, and then charged at him. Zim caught the fist aimed at his head, and then sidestepped around Dib, bending the arm around to come with him. Grinning evilly, Zim then brought his fist down on the arm at the elbow, breaking it.

Dib screamed in pain as he sank to his knees, clutching his broken limb. He was so focused on that, he didn't even notice Zim moving to stand behind him until the Irken put him in a headlock. Gasping for breath, Dib tried to break free, but with only one good arm it was pointless.

"Take a good long look at the true nature of your species," Zim whispered into Dib's ear, while moving his head to look at the screens.

"Not everyone is like that," Dib hissed, trying not to look at a screen that was showing footage of protesters in some totalitarian state being gunned down by military forces.

"Maybe not all of you," Zim said with a smirk, "but most humans are, deep down, violent hateful animals. I've been around a long time, worm-baby, and I've never seen any race quite like yours. My people have virtually wiped out the ecosystem on our homeworld, true, but only after we created an empire of many worlds whose resources we could draw upon. You humans haven't gone any further than your own moon, and before I even got here you were almost literally drowning in your own pollution."

To prove his point, Zim directed Dib's head to look at footage of cities covered in smog that was being released from hundreds of smokestacks.

"I'd also like to point out that, while my people do tend to wipe out you lesser species, we've never attempted genocide on our own kind."

Dib's view was once again moved, this time to screens displaying footage from the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing in Africa and Eastern Europe.

"So, I ask you again Dib – why are you resisting me? If anything, I'm doing this planet and your people a favor. You'll be brought under Irken rules and conditions; a dying world will be given a new purpose, and the human race will be united in purpose. No longer will any of you think you're superior to others, since you'll all be equally inferior to the Irken Empire. Do you see it now, Dib? The beauty and rightness of it? Do you see it?"

Dib didn't answer. He merely sagged in Zim's hold, tears running down his face as his gaze wandered around the room. As his view lowered to the platform, he realized something – during his last attack, when Zim had broken his arm, the movement had placed them both very close to the edge of the walkway. Seeing that, Dib's eyes widened as a final, desperate plan sparked in his mind.

"I said, do you see it?!" Zim snarled. He wanted Dib to hurry up and admit defeat so he could kill him already.

"Yeah, I see it," Dib muttered. Zim smirked at that, but the triumphant laugh he was about to let out turned into a startled yelp as Dib suddenly gathered his strength and used it to throw himself backwards into Zim, sending both of them stumbling back… and off of the platform.

"Noooo!" Zim screamed as they both plummeted towards the bottom of the chamber. Dib managed to slip free of Zim's grasp, and managed to turn around mid-flight just in time to see Zim hit the ground back first. His PAK was smashed from the speed of the fall and from Zim's full weight coming down on it.

Zim gave a final screech of pain before his body – no longer able to rely on the PAK's healing abilities – succumbed to the wounds received in the fall.

This was the last thing Dib saw before he too hit the floor, and then there was only darkness…

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**Fin**

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**A/N: Okay, who can honestly say that they saw that coming? Actually, that ending's not quite as dark as what I originally had planned – Dib's spirit was going to actually break from what Zim showed him on the monitors (which would have been more intense than what I showed here) and then he would have used that gun to shoot himself while Zim merely watched.**

**I'd also like to point out that I'm not a social pessimist. I don't personally think that humanity deserves to be wiped out, but I've seen plenty of sci-fi movies where aliens decide that humans don't deserve to exist because of the way we treat each other and our planet. So, I figured Zim would use that as an excuse to justify the invasion.**

**On a lighter note, I'd like to ask you all to also read my other oneshot "Elegy" that I'm posting alongside this. It's not a comedy, but it's also not quite as serious.**

**Other than that, all I have to say is, read and review!**


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